Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has challenged his players to stand up and be counted in the wake of Sunday's 4-0 defeat against Chelsea and a less than perfect start to the season in general, asking for "men" instead of "kids".
After facing Liverpool and Chelsea in the Premier League in the space of a few days, United now have a more favourable fixture list after Wednesday night against Manchester City in the EFL Cup is out of the way.
"I would prefer to play in the Premier League - it's a bad feeling in the Premier League. With the combination of results, the gap to the top is six points," Mourinho told MUTV this week as he prepares for the second Manchester derby of the season.
"We have had a very difficult period of matches. We lost points this week and, even in the match when we played phenomenal against Stoke, we lost points then. Now we need to win matches," the United boss added.
"I am not saying they are easy ones, but we have Burnley, we have Swansea, West Ham, Sunderland, Middlesbrough - matches that we need to win. The top four, top five, they have to play between themselves like we did this week against Chelsea and Liverpool. They are going to lose points too, so we are in the run, but there is no way to hide.
"We are really, really sad, but again this is not for kids, this is for men andwe have to be men and work for the next one."
For Barcelona legend Xavi, Mourinho has to avoid 'making war' with his player at this difficult time.
"Sometimes, when things don't go well for Mourinho, he wants war not football - like when he was at Real Madrid - and I hope we don't see that again in England," the Spaniard said.
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